I know half the people who frequent this board do not actually play WoW, but for the other 50% that do... what keeps you playing WoW?

I quit a while back and have been having the urge to play again. However, all I can remember is ridiculously easy... everything. Even heroics in WoTLK were ridiculously easy to complete. While I never did the "raid" content like Naxx or Ulduar, every thing PvE seemed ridiculously easy.

So I'm wondering, what keeps you guys logging in every day?

Friends. Simple as that.

I have gamed with the same people for years now and know them as well as I know my real life friends (and now some are).

And the fact that, even after 4 years, I still find things in the game that I have missed or haven't done.

Well, i keep playing wow for many reasons, friends and guilds is one, then is the polish of the game and the gameplay, for some reason other games i try always seem a bit unpolished compared to wow, I have high hopes on Aion and almost my entire guild is changing so maybe this is it =P

Originally posted by tryklon

Well, i keep playing wow for many reasons, friends and guilds is one, then is the polish of the game and the gameplay, for some reason other games i try always seem a bit unpolished compared to wow, I have high hopes on Aion and almost my entire guild is changing so maybe this is it =P

High hope is usually not a good thing in MMORPG.  However, the rest is entirely preference.  I am not dumb enough to say which game is better or worse.  Both games have their good and bad points.

Yes, main reason I stayed on WoW are the friends made online.  Truthfully alot of games are like that I believe.  Recently however, I stopped playing WoW.  There are no reason for it, it is just to take a break from MMO gaming as a whole.  Which I suppose why is i look through forums on my free time.

I play because I'm having fun.

And that's really all that matters.

Having fun, play. Not having fun, don't play.

It just that simple.

There's nothing else out there at the moment that I want to play.

Originally posted by MMO-Maniac

I play because I'm having fun.

 

And that's really all that matters.

Having fun, play. Not having fun, don't play.

It just that simple.

You have hit it on the Head.....

Have Fun!

I played WOW at its release for about 2 1/2- 3 years. I started loosing interest on my first character around the late 50s playing as a Mage. Tried 4 other toons but still was loosing interest. Took a break, but then came back with the first expansion. Didn't like most of the unconnected spacey look. Also, it just felt like the same thing that I already experienced from levels 1-60 which NPCs upgraded like me to a higher level with a couple of new spells. I will say that nothing has come close to the initial experience I have had with WOW, but that was because it was my first MMO. It was very polished, easy to play seriously or casually, but I got so worn out trying to keep up with everyone in the rush to level 60. I never felt like I could breath lol. I never got into crafting, hated the whole run through an instance forever and hope I get a good roll on one item, didnt like grinding for rep (boring). However, WOW set the bar VERY high and for the first year it was an incredible experience. I think what I loved the most was simply the social aspect of the game, making friends, joining a guild etc. However, even that got so mentally draining when my first guild was falling apart and then I joined another only to have people I was close with upset with me and refusing to talk further. I was like, am I not playing a game? Did I just kill someone? lol. Everyone took things so personal. It was almost like I wasnt playing WOW anymore, rather, trying to maintain or repair a second life of gaming friends. Then after I left I would pop in from time to time just to say hello to people lol. I did that again about 3 months ago, but after trying Vanguard, EQ2, Warhammer, AOC, and Lord of the Rings Online, I just had no desire to go back just to be with a few people I gamed with for a couple of years.

Currently, I am playing Lord of the Rings Online simply because to me it is like a WOW upgrade, I actually tried and am enjoying the crafting, i am not racing to any level and sucking in the countless things that game has to offer, and I love the story behind the books and the eye that pops up sometimes when you are too weak for an area :-). It took many of the things WOW excelled at and borrowed those and added to them. The only thing I miss is having an opposing faction (Horde versus Alliance). If Lord of the Rings had that, I would  rate it a 10/10 instead of the 8.5 out of 10 I currently would give it. I also thing they need to improve the animations of your character a bit, but the graphics in the game are superior to WOW and just a step below AOC.

Warhammer also gave me a fantastic Rush for the first 2 months, but that grew thin as population decreased since the game is so HEAVILY dependent on population. I just got tired of empty Public Quests.

Anyway, a friendly guild and making friends in game go a long way to keeping people in these type of games....or I would have left WOW a lot sooner.

I really don't care for WoW, but I'm unemployed and bored out of my mind. I'm also getting triple XP for another month or so. I'll likely quit when it expires or get all toons to 60. Maybe sub it again later and get BC or WotLK

It's fun!

Because I'm having fun.  Because, regardless of "easy-ness", there is always something to do.  And finally, because I don't like feeling like I'm paying for an unpolished, half-finished beta product...which is what the majority of the alternatives remind me of.

I think it is because I am having fun.   Yep, that's it...beause I am having fun.   Right now I am working on getting certain faction rep with my one toons and I also have two alts I play on.   So I have plenty to do between the three them.

I still play because I am still having fun while I play. If it wasn't fun anymore I would split and find me something else.

When I played, it was mainly the pvp that kept me rolling over subscription.  Then I found a much better pvp game, imo.

cool patchnotes!

Because my friends all had WoW accounts, and Eve-online was getting boring because of my bad security status; and if I wanted to have fun... I had to go in 0.0 space. Forcing me join a corp with people I don't know and follow there rules. I soon realised that you need to be in a big corp or an alliance to actualy have fun. Eve-Online became just gave me stress from loss ships, because I got dominated by HUGE fleets...  my 5 man fleet wasn't cutting it anymore. All my friends had low sp, so we had to do missions and boring farming for are loss ships, so we all lost intrest fast.

World of Warcraft can be just as competive as eve, but without overwhelming myself with responsibility. I played WoW  when it first came out. I got to lvl56, then quit because it was the same thing over and over. After the new expansions came out, people started talking about it alot. It seemed like WoW became a whole different game, so I had to come back to see for myself. And it was! So many things such as, getting items with rep with dailies or heroic instances; and getting honor or arena points.

Daily quests are awesome and it feels your progressing in the game by increaseing rep and gold. Heroic instances never get boring because I always learn something new everytime I enter the same instance. I question myself on how to improve dps or what can I do to inorder for the group from wiping. Needless to say, the bosses look awesome, and I always feel a sence of accomplishment when the die!

Greetings to one and all!

I play World of Warcraft much like people buy and drink Coca-Cola.  It has now become the recognized brand name for the MMO genre.  Now, that alone is obiviously not the only reason I play.  At the time of this reply most readers can clearly see why most people of this forum play WoW.

To me though, it runs much deeper.  WoW has stamped the image of what an MMO should be if it wants to make a huge profit.  However, it is what it is and the other so-called "cookie-cutter" games are not complete successes.  There is simply is very little, if anything out there worth investing time in attempting the end-cycle level content, (sighs..."end-game).  There are several new games releasing this Fall.  That said, we've seen this before, haven't we?  I suppose Aion will have a very polished release.  However, and truly, does this game really offer a long-lasting game full of content and immersion?  I'm not quite sure.  I fear it is just another poor attempt at "going along to get along" to create quick profit and then sadly fading into annonimity like the past four major MMO releases have.

Until a creative group of developers and intrepid invetors come togther to create a true "virtual world", I dare say Blizzard shall march towards the future as the only actual MMO that contimues to offer it's game to millions and we'll all basically just continue to play becuase there are no other positive competitive games out there. www.wolfsheadonline.com/ Interesting articles on this blog, folks.  There are truly differences between games and virtual worlds.  I understand that it nigh on impossible to create a true virtual world.  It isn't asking too much though to create a game that offers many more open ended choices for the subscribers that gain the top level for that current gaming cycle. 

People still matter, to my way of thinking more than the so-called "end-game" content, however we see too many new games releasing that offere very little in the way of true choices at the top of the cycle.  WoW offers it's dungeons.  WAR offers RvR.  Aion? I suppose a cross between Guild Wars and WAR, to some extent. AoC is attempting a mild come-back, however, not too sure if the vast ocean of average gamers are returning en-masse. Again I offer WolfHead's blog for some thoughts here; www.wolfsheadonline.com/

"Money talks, Bull-Sh%t walks", I suppose in this current period of game development.  However, I remain hopeful.  There's always hope for a world for just about all of us in the burgeoning minds of up and coming game developers.

Until then, I shall continue with my "rep dailies", PvPing in instanced zones while waiting for those slow developing 25 mans to that "OMG uber-leete dungeon", or grinding for mats to sell in the AH for the remaining two or three crafts that still seem to matter, (alchemy, inscription, or enchanting), or just hanging' out in good ol' Dal-LAG-a-ran City reading insipid posts in the trade chat or just chatting it up in guild.

1.  I like pvp in WoW, I know how to gear my toons for 19, 29 AND 60 bgs.

2.  Aion isn't out yet.

3.  AoC and WAR suck.  I say that because when they came out I was hating WoW.  A little break and a reevaluation of my play styles solved this, that and the sucking of the aforementioned games.  If  WAR wasn't so broken, I would not be posting here.

AoC made me upgrade my vid card and for that I thank them.

4.  It is smooth and practically seemless, it runs well.

5.  It supports my varied game play styles.  I like working the AH, I like fishing, I like pwning noobs in bgs more than anything.

6.  It is fully supported.

7.  I can play it casually (particularly since I twink and don't raid)

8.  Most people are cool and fun to talk to.

Originally posted by Kamandi777

 

8.  Most people are cool and fun to talk to. 

I lol'd so hard... WoW has a downright rotten community....

I think I play WoW because there just isn't any other real option out there that works as well as WoW does.  Like nearly everyone else here, my disclaimer is that I have tried just about every other MMORPG on the market. 

When I try a new game, I look for the 'hook'.  Either I have failed to find a hook strong enough in the other games go keep me playing them (away from WoW) OR the other games have failed to provide said hook. 

WAR, AoC, and some of the others do things a little differently from WoW in certain areas... but they all feel 'incomplete' by way of comparison to the overall WoW package.  When I play a new game, I kind of expect to find everything that I liked about WoW in the new game PLUS new additions, features, and the special flavor of the new title... something to set it aside and make it it's own thing.  Build on the success of other MMO's, namely WoW, and just 'do it better'/newer. 

In short: Games that come out without features already offered in existing games are 'incomplete', imho.  New games should offer what existing games offer as their base level, but then bring NEW and FRESH ideas. 

So, really, what keeps me playing WoW is the fact that most other games don't offer what Blizzard does with their game.  I do think there are still things that make WoW slightly less than a fully satisfying game, but it's the closest thing to a 10 on the market today, imho. 

I keep going back to WoW because no other MMORPGs can hold a candle to it in terms of polish and amount of content. There is just so much to do in WoW and it is all done so well. Sure, a lot of the content is rather easy... but I still have more fun doing it than I have in other games recently. And I still have so many friends in WoW. Even after four years of months off and on play, I run into friends regularly on my server. No other game has been able to captivate both me AND my friends as long as WoW has...

I would stay and be completely content with WoW if it just had the few elements I think are sorely lacking. For me, those are:

1. Changing game world (ie conquerable territory). There is very little WAR in the world of Warcraft.
2. Meaningful PvP with factions you can actually talk to. Agan, the only war in WoW is meaningless and artificial.
3. Housing.

I keep leaving the game looking for another that can pull off these things while also being as fun and polished as WoW. Unfortunately, no such game exists...

I keep coming back because I enjoy it and I don't have to buy a new computer for it to run well. I play alot of other games too but get tired of the bugs and lag. WoW is very well done.

Originally posted by alyndale "OMG uber-leete dungeon"

I am really frustrated because there is no good polished games out right now with good pvp. Waiting on swkotor but that is long time from now. WoW is not an option for me, so utterly tired of playing it. Oh well at least you can always count on television. :)